After another recap break in the action, we resume 86 with the hunt for the Morpho. Uncharacteristically for this show, the episode is mostly dedicated to the action. It’s extremely good action, but it does mean that the summary will cover more of what there is to say.
Nordlicht Squadron ends up having to bail at altitude (the transport taking more to make the drop) and then has to deal with the Morpho’s Legion escorts. They cut through, and prepare to engage the disabled Morpho… only to realize at the last second, thanks to stowaway Frederica calling out to Shin, that they’ve been duped. The real Morpho fires on the location, obliterating several city blocks worth of terrain and blacking out communications and scouting for a time.
In this we follow up at the command post, as Ernst quite impressively takes charge of the situation. The military wants to commence a saturation missile strike, hoping to catch the real Morpho or at least temporarily disable the rails. Ernst calls them out both on the wasteful nature of the strategy and the fact that he’s the Commander in Chief and will not permit sacrificing people and inhumane plots. If the only way to survive is to become monsters, he’s determined that they’ll all die along with his ideals.
It’s not often you get someone who is bloody terrifying in being a kind and moral person, but Ernst pulls it off. There are villains – serious ones at that – who have much less of an aura of menace than this guy does, despite him being, at core, principled above all. I kind of love that about him, and the show for being able to pull it off without feeling forced or hammy.
In any case, Ernst’s speech saves the moment needed for Nordlicht (who dodged the assault and survived, since the Morpho’s shots aren’t exactly fast to come out) to re-establish communications, ready to engage the real Morpho and finish their mission. They make a good attack against it, which we see both from their perspective, and from the perspective of Kiri/The Morpho itself.
On that side, we see that Kiri, code-named Pale Rider, answers to some higher intelligent Legion unit named No-Face. One of their objectives was to disable and acquire Shin, which No-Face now sees as being out of reach. Combined with the fact that the Morpho isn’t great at close quarters, Pale Rider is ordered to withdraw. It resists, but after taking a significant hit, is ultimately compelled to obey, scurrying off along the high-speed rails.
The 86 give chase – The Morpho gets an initial lead, disengaging, and the rest of Nordlicht acts as rear guard. Though given the opportunity to withdraw, Shin and the others note that if the Morpho isn’t taken down that could well be the end of wherever they’d withdraw to, so they’ll finish their mission.
They also formally discover their stowaway and, after establishing that they’re in no position to send her back to base, have a discussion where she insists they need to not forget that returning alive is part of their mission (ad-hoc changing her ‘hostage’ role to be against senseless death rather than flight from battle, since that’s the more pressing issue for the 86), and Shin gives her his gun to, if the worst should happen, save the last bullet for herself. Thus, they prepare to pursue the Morpho… which is exactly what Pale Rider wants as he returns to base, thinking about how he (believes he) lost everything with Frederica’s “death” and resolving to make Shin suffer the same way. Their confrontation will have to wait for next time at the earliest.
So, one last word, on that delay… honestly, I’m perfectly fine with it. I’d much rather this show keep producing gold every episode than put out something shoddy to release ‘on time’. Was it kind of a letdown last week to get a second X.5 sandwiching the prior episode? Yeah, kind of, but this one was worth waiting for. 86 is worth waiting for. If they have to do it again, I’ll wait, even if I hope they won’t have to.